Speakers at the third yearly Young Directors Forum (YDF) Conference of the Chartered Institute of Directors (CIoD) Nigeria have urged corporate boards to build strong systems that can outlive founders, warning that rapid growth without sound governance could lead to business failure.
  
They also called for boards to strengthen oversight of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence (AI), talent retention and succession planning as businesses face growing operational and strategic risks.
  
Speaking at the conference in Lagos recently, Conference Chairman, Prof. Peter Obadare, said fewer than 10 Nigerian companies have existed for more than 100 years, compared with more than 21,000 in Japan, attributing the disparity partly to weak governance structures and overdependence on founders.
  
He said many Nigerian businesses struggle to survive when their founders die because they lack institutional systems capable of sustaining operations beyond individual leadership. Obadare said boards must expand their oversight responsibilities to include cybersecurity, noting that digital fraud could expose companies to losses far greater than those associated with traditional internal collusion.
    
He urged directors to look beyond profits and examine how sustainably they are generated, stressing the need to build businesses that can withstand leadership changes and emerging risks. He also called on CIoD to introduce a “board as a service” model to enable start-ups to access experienced directors and strengthen their governance structures as they grow.
  
In his keynote address, former Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guinness Nigeria Plc, Seni Adetu, said businesses should aim to grow sustainable shareholder value through dividends and appreciation in share prices.
   
He identified global uncertainty, AI, changing consumer preferences and talent migration as major challenges that boards must address to keep their businesses competitive. On talent retention, Adetu cited the growing number of Nigerian professionals working remotely for foreign companies, describing the trend as “digital japa”.
   
He said boards must provide strategic direction, oversee financial performance and ensure that risks are properly managed, while distinguishing their responsibilities from those of executive management.
  
Adetu warned boards against borrowing money to pay dividends merely to sustain a favourable image among shareholders, describing it as one of the worst decisions a board can make. He said former executives appointed to boards must recognise that their role had changed from running businesses to providing oversight. Directors, he said, should challenge management assumptions and hold executives accountable without interfering in day-to-day operations.
   
He added that compliance should support business performance rather than become an obstacle to growth. For boards to remain effective, Adetu called for stronger technological competence and diversity in age and thinking, recommending the inclusion of directors in their 30s, 50s and 70s to bring different perspectives to decision-making.
    
He also urged boards to establish key performance indicators for themselves, conduct regular evaluations and remove directors who consistently underperform. He further advised young leaders to concentrate on factors within their control rather than allow external challenges to distract them from their responsibilities.
   
CIoD President and Chairman of Council, Otunba Adetunji Oyebanji, said the institute is laying the foundation for stronger future boards through continuous education, mentoring and investment in emerging leaders and urged young directors to enrol in the CIoD Academy’s board programmes to improve their governance skills and prepare for leadership responsibilities.
  
Oyebanji also invited participants to the institute’s yearly Directors Conference, scheduled for November 10 and 11 in Lagos. The conference will focus on “Reimagining the Boardroom for Inclusive and Sustainable National Prosperity in the New Economy.”
  
YDF Chairperson, Omobola Adekola, said the forum’s impact should be measured by the quality of leaders it develops rather than its membership figures or the number of programmes it organises.
  
She urged members to encourage more young directors to join the forum, adding that its sessions would address corporate governance, technology, sustainability, ethics and succession planning.